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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26566681">A Place To Lay Your Head</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacNoctua/pseuds/LilacNoctua'>LilacNoctua</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>First Kiss, Fluff, Insomnia, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Sleepy Cuddles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:21:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,747</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26566681</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacNoctua/pseuds/LilacNoctua</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p><i>His hair was rumpled at the back but his eyes were still bright, even if they were heavy with exhaustion. He hadn’t been to sleep yet, despite the late hour.<br/>“I wondered if you might show up tonight,” Lee said softly by way of greeting.<br/>It was almost enough to make Gaara turn on his heel and bolt. But the inside of Lee’s apartment was warm, and the faintest hints of curry and tea still lingered in the air, so instead he asked, “May I come in?”</i><br/> <br/>If the only place Gaara feels safe enough to sleep peacefully is next to Lee, is that really so bad?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Gaara/Rock Lee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>160</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Place To Lay Your Head</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Almost_sad/gifts">Almost_sad</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This fic is for Sadface (@flightlessdevotee on tumblr) and is based on <a href="https://flightlessdevotee.tumblr.com/post/629818538299965440/hi-again-im-back-with-a-new-post-and-this-time/">this beautiful piece of her art</a>.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He had been glaring at the ceiling for hours now. His limbs felt leaden, his thoughts oozed along as sluggishly as honey on a cold morning, his eyes stung and wouldn’t focus properly. He needed to sleep. It had been too long since he had last managed so much as a nap, and he was beginning to pay the price for it. He was only human now, after all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He tried to close his eyes but the wheezing rattle of the hotel air conditioner and the strange, sterile scent of over starched sheets set his teeth on edge, made it impossible to relax. Kankuro and Temari had departed to separate corners of the village as soon as night had fallen and the room felt overly large without them, sinister in its emptiness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, he gave in and rolled out of bed. On the road to Konoha, he had promised himself that he wouldn’t do this again, but he had reached the point where he was willing to sacrifice his pride for a full night’s sleep. If he had to break his own heart for a little rest, right now that seemed like a small price to pay. He buckled the gourd on over top of his pajamas and disappeared from the hotel room in a whirl of sand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The green paint on the door was starting to peel and fade. Gaara resisted the urge to pick at it as he waited, shifting from one foot to another, listening to the distant murmur of voices from a bar down the street, the soft fluttering of moth wings around his head. The light above the door had been left on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee opened the door dressed only in a pair of pajama pants, patterned in green and orange checks so obnoxiously bright that they made Gaara’s heart squeeze in that way it did now whenever he encountered something that was so distinctly </span>
  <em>
    <span>Lee. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>His hair was rumpled at the back but his eyes were still bright, even if they were heavy with exhaustion. He hadn’t been to sleep yet, despite the late hour. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wondered if you might show up tonight,” Lee said softly by way of greeting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was almost enough to make Gaara turn on his heel and bolt. But the inside of Lee’s apartment was warm, and the faintest hints of curry and tea still lingered in the air, so instead he asked, “May I come in?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee frowned at him but stepped back to allow him across the threshold. Gaara refused to let his eyes linger on the curve of his bare shoulder, the place that seemed just perfectly formed for his head to rest on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know you are always welcome here. You do not actually have to ask.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s polite,” Gaara whispered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That at least, earned a tired smile from Lee. Gaara turned his back while he slipped his shoes off and set the gourd down. Lee’s footsteps padded softly across the bare wooden floor and the springs of the bed creaked. When Gaara turned around again, Lee was sitting in his bed, a book open in his lap as though Gaara hadn’t interrupted him at all, as though it were perfectly normal for the Kazekage to show up unannounced in the middle of the night. Gaara took three steps closer and could go no further. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The first time this had happened, it had been little more than an awkward accident. He and his siblings had been in the village and Naruto had dragged him around to Lee’s place for a movie with some friends. He had been sitting next to Lee on the couch, perhaps a little too close, and he didn’t remember when he had nodded off or what had happened next. All he knew was that he had woken up from an unusually peaceful sleep, feeling well rested and relaxed, with his head pillowed on Lee’s chest, their limbs tangled together on the couch. Everyone else had long since left, and an old crocheted blanket had been draped across them. Lee had still been asleep, snoring softly with the morning sunlight kissing his face so sweetly that Gaara couldn’t tear his eyes away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If Gaara had been a stronger man, it might never have happened again. At first, when he started coming to visit Lee at night, he told himself that it was just because sleep came to him so rarely and almost never so peacefully, that it was only natural for him to crave this circumstance that allowed him to experience truly restful, mercifully dreamless sleep. That waking up feeling refreshed and alert was worth the embarrassment of seeking Lee out on nights like this. But before long, he had been forced to admit to himself that this would be different if it were anyone other than Lee, that it wasn’t so much about the sleep as it was about the way Lee’s hair smelled when it was freshly washed, the warmth of his skin, the way his eyes looked when he smiled at Gaara, and only at Gaara. He had come to realize that what he truly wanted was Lee’s arms around him, and the nonsense he mumbled in his sleep with his mouth pressed against Gaara’s hair. He would have been willing to remain awake for the rest of his life if he could only have that.  After that realization, it had become more difficult to fall asleep alone, more difficult to stay away from Lee, and infinitely more difficult to justify to himself what he was about to do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is something wrong?” Lee asked when Gaara made no move to come closer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara took a step back. “I shouldn’t take advantage of you like this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take advantage?” Lee repeated slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are too kind, too willing to help,” Gaara murmured, studying the floor. “I feel horrible for the trouble you go to for me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t the whole truth, it was only a pale imitation of it, but it was the most he could offer. Gaara doubted he would ever be able to admit the truth of his feelings to Lee, and he felt all the more guilty for it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trouble?” Lee’s face brightened again at that and he laughed. “What trouble, Gaara? I look forward to you coming to visit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara wished he could believe that it wasn’t just his imagination that Lee’s cheeks darkened in the lamplight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course! Why would I invite you, if not?” Lee laughed again, but it felt brittle this time, like there was something underneath his words, pressing up, cracking the veneer of cheerful camaraderie. “Come here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara’s feet crossed the remaining distance to the bed as if of their own accord, powerless to resist any longer, and he settled onto the mattress. Lee switched off the lamp and drew the covers up over Gaara, turning to face him on the pillow. They were silent. Soft silver moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, the fridge hummed one continuous low note. Gaara held his breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is troubling you?” Lee asked softly. He was so close that his breath tickled Gaara’s face as he spoke, carrying the scent of mint toothpaste. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine,” he lied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Lee shook his head slightly and reached out. His fingers threaded into Gaara’s hair, his thumb stroking gently behind his ear. “I can see that something is bothering you. You are usually restless, but not so tense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara’s voice caught in his throat at the very idea that Lee paid close enough attention to him to be able to read him so easily. He shifted a little closer, placed one hand tentatively on Lee’s shoulder, warm and smooth beneath his fingertips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want you to be able to rest,” Lee went on. “I see how hard you push yourself. You have made yourself into a genius of hard work, just like me, but you have not yet become a genius of recovery or self-care. I worry about you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara could do nothing but nod, his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth to stifle all the words he couldn’t say to Lee without ruining all of this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You do not need to talk about it if you do not wish to, or cannot,” Lee whispered. “But if it will help, I will listen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know you will,” Gaara managed to whisper. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara said nothing more and Lee let the silence hang between them for a few moments, breathing slowly, deeply until Gaara began to relax along with him. Finally he leaned forward and bumped their foreheads together, just the briefest, gentlest touch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go to sleep, Gaara,” Lee whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You too,” Gaara murmured. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> “I am already halfway there.” Lee’s other arm slid under the pillow, propping up Gaara’s head and curving around his shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara closed his eyes and listened to Lee breathing in the dark. So close that every breath ruffled his hair, so warm that Gaara felt like he was melting against him, months worth of tension ebbing out of his body. This, he knew now, was what it felt like to be safe, cared for. When Lee held him like this, he couldn’t even bring himself to feel as guilty as he ought to about it. He could almost even allow himself to imagine that Lee was doing this not out of a sense of duty for a friend, but because he also wanted Gaara to be so close to him, because he also craved this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee’s thumb ceased its slow back-and-forth stroking behind Gaara’s ear, the arm beneath the pillow shifted, Lee’s breath hitched. Gaara opened his eyes expecting to find that he had fallen asleep, leaving Gaara free to watch him until he could drift off as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Instead he found Lee’s eyes wide open and staring back at him in the darkness. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re not sleeping,” Gaara whispered, nudging Lee’s shin impatiently with his toes. The smile that flitted across Lee’s face at that made Gaara’s stomach flutter. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose I have just got something on my mind,” Lee said slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can tell me about it,” Gaara offered tentatively. He wasn’t sure if there was anything he could say to Lee that might be helpful, but he figured listening was the least he could do since Lee allowed him to lie here beside him like this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to tell you about it,” Lee replied. “It is just that I do not want you to get the wrong idea.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The wrong idea?” Gaara asked, his mouth suddenly as dry as ash.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee sighed. “I know how things stand. I know that I am your friend, and that is all. I will never ask you for anything you would not want to give.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His voice was gentle, tone matter-of-fact and reassuring. Gaara had no idea what he meant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How I feel is not really important,” Lee went on. “But I still want you to know that it is. . . an honour. . . that I am the one you choose when you need somebody. I am always so happy to see you and I look forward to, well, to nights like this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara could say nothing in response to that, so Lee forged onwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You see, if I can make you happy, bring you comfort in any way, I will always want to. You are not like my other friends. The way I feel about you is . . . I could not be this way with Neji or Tenten, or rather, I would not want to. Not in the same way. But I understand that I am just your friend, and I need you to know that I am happy with that. I do not need anything more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lee,” Gaara finally whispered. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Lee murmured, turning his face into the pillow. “It is not really important.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like you to be so indirect,” Gaara murmured, letting his hand slip up Lee’s shoulder to settle in the crook of his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee shivered. “I am sorry. I just do not want to make you uncomfortable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You couldn’t,” Gaara assured him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee’s face softened into a serene smile. He brushed the tip of his nose against Gaara’s, stealing his breath away without even realizing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here is the truth then,” he said. “My feelings towards you have always been passionate, but over time I have come to realize that they have grown tender and romantic as well. I needed you to know that, but I also need you to understand that it is enough for me just to be here with you like this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He still wore that small, soft smile. Peaceful and resigned, as though he had not just turned Gaara’s entire world on its head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would you think that?” he finally managed to croak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think that I feel. . .?” Lee started to ask, eyebrows drawing down in confusion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, that I don’t feel the same way.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because,” Lee stopped suddenly, his mouth still partly open, staring at Gaara. “But . . . do you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara nodded once, slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” It was more a sigh than a word. He said nothing else, just lay there staring at Gaara, his feelings written so plainly on his face that Gaara wondered how he had missed seeing them before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gaara’s right hand had been lying on the sheets between them, but he raised it now to Lee’s face, stroking his thumb against Lee’s chin, his fingers brushing down over Lee’s cheek, soft and plush where the rest of him was forged iron. Gaara struggled to gather up the right words from deep within himself to tell Lee how much he meant to him, what he really wanted from him. But faced with that look in Lee’s eyes, his brain could string only one sentence together and it spilled from his mouth without his meaning it to, even as his thumb slid upwards to brush against the soft swell of Lee’s lower lip. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to kiss you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee blinked twice slowly, as though he wasn’t sure what he had just heard. Then his fingers slid deeper into the hair at the back of Gaara’s head, gently coaxing him forward, and Gaara moved with him. He shuffled across the tiny distance that remained between them so that he could hold Lee’s face in his hands and finally, finally kiss him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Too many times he had allowed himself to daydream about this moment as he wandered the desert in the small hours of morning. In his imagination, Lee was always much more bold. He would confess tearfully, (though even in his daydreams Gaara couldn’t help but believe that while he was head-over-heels in love with Lee, Lee’s feelings would be newer. Less profound, if no less romantic). Then he would sweep Gaara right off his feet and kiss him until he couldn’t breathe or remember his own name.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>This kiss was nothing like that. Lee hesitated just for a moment before kissing Gaara back, before tightening his arms around him. It was a soft, slow kiss but in the gentle movements of Lee’s lips, every lingering touch of his hands, and each sighing breath that Gaara drank down like a rare desert rain, there was a different type of passion. It soothed Gaara’s fears, washed away his doubts, overwhelmed each of his senses with Lee, Lee, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Lee</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Lee pulled away, he tucked Gaara’s head into the crook of his shoulder and buried his face in his hair. Gaara could feel his chest rise with a deep breath and then fall again in a long, blissful sigh, could feel Lee grinning next to his ear. He pressed his lips softly against a fading scar that slashed down across Lee’s collarbone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lee laughed softly as Gaara’s eyelashes fluttered against his skin, and began peppering his hairline with tiny kisses. Gaara wanted to think that there was no way he would be able to sleep after something so earth shattering, that instead he would remain awake all night kissing Lee over and over again. But he was in the safest place he could imagine, and happier than he could ever remember being, and try as he might, his eyes just would not stay open. Lee, he knew, would still be here in the morning, just like this with his arms around Gaara, and Gaara would kiss him as many times as it took for him to finally be able to put this feeling into words.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you so much for reading!! You can find me on <a href="https://lilac-writes.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> where you can also find <a href="https://flightlessdevotee.tumblr.com/">Sadface and her art</a>. If you have never seen any of her art, please go take a look, I promise it will make your whole day better.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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